Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Some of the comments left about Jawaher's death in the Israeli media are pretty disturbing. Not just in their explicit racism, but in their embrace of the "don't know, don't care" mentality, like they have absolutely no interest in finding out what really happened. They say things like "the protests at Bil'in are extremely violent" and "stone throwers get what they deserve" and "the wall is serving its purpose." I wasn't aware of the term "Pallywood," a pro-Israel term referring to the Palestinian attempt to fabricate stories in order to deligitimize Israel. Jawaher's death has been thrown into this category, not just by ignorant bloggers, who spread rumors that she died by honor killing and was buried quickly to cover up the facts, but by the Israeli military as well.

There were inconsistencies. I'm still confused as to whether Jawaher was at the protest or not, but there's no confusion on the quantity and potency of the gas that was used, and how far it reached. But to exploit this confusion in order to conclude the people of Bil'in would use the death of their daughter as a political weapon is dehumanizing, and it's something I really can't stand after having spent five days with the Abu Rahma family.

IDF Pushes Claim that Palestinians lied about Jawaher Abu Rahma's Killing